of chicago



W. BELL. Car Coupling.

No. 99,817. Patented Feb. 15, 1870..,

N PEIERS FHOTU-UYHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D c.

W.-W. BELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINQIS.

Letters Patent N 99,817, dated February 15, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR- COUPLING.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters-Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, W. W. BELL, of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook, and State of Illinois,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Couplers and. 1 do hereby declare that'the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reli-icncc being had to the accompanying drawing making part of this specification, and to the letters of of rcli-rcnce marked thereon, like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

To enable-others skilled in the art to construct and use my invention, 1 will proceed to describe it.

Figure 1 represents the plan, and

Figure 2 represents the section along the line at x of the coupler.

The nature of my invention consists in so arranging the coupling-link that when it is pushed into the buffer or draw-bar ot' a car, it couples itself with the two tumblers atfixed in the said bufl'er,'and is uncoupled by drawing outone of the said tumblers by hand, both tumblers acting simultaneously, as will be hereaiter fully explained.

A is the butter or draw-bar, made flat.

B B arc the tumblers or catches, provided atone end with heads b b, as shown, and at the other end wiilrnotches, O O, fitting into the side pieces I) D of the draw;

The tumblers are pinned to the draw-bar at (Z (1, around which points they can p'ivot, but are retained in place by strong springs, E E, secured at one end to the pieces D D of the draw, and pressing with the other end against the notched ends of the tumblers, so that when a tumbler is drawn out of the buffer by means of ring F placed at its head, its otherend overcomes the resistance of the spring, but when the head is let oil, the spring puts the tumbler in its place again.

In order to make both tumblers to come out when power is applied to onlyone of them, braces G G are placed crosswise between them, their ends fitting the grooves or notches with which the said tumblers are provided on the inside, said grooves or notches extending on both sides of the pivot-points d (l.

H is a solid link, its head made in the shape of an arrow, and so as to iit the corners of the tumblers heads,- and catch or couple betwecn them.

The forward point of the head is somewhat sharpened or beveled off, so as to render it easy to enter the buffer at the coupling of the cars, and may he provided also with an opening, 0, for the purpose of coupling the cars in case of necessity by an ordinary pin, 1.

A corresponding opening, 0', is also provided in the draw-bar. I

mm are pins in the draw-bar to keep the head of the link in place and to prevent the same from moving to either side or too far back.

The operation consists in this, that in coupling cars the link of one car enters the draw-bzir ot' the other car, and couplesautomatically with its tumblers, but in uncoupling, a man draws one of the rings 1* of one car, and thus opening its tumblers nnconplcs the link.

The advantage of my self-coupler consists particularly in this, that it couples itself, and that the attendant in uncoupling cars, runs no danger at all, as by reaching over his hand iron: a distance to the ring l be can casily-uacouple the cars withontgoing between then].

Having thus fully described my invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Lcttors Patent, is-

The link 11 and the tumblers B B, in combination with springs E l) and braces G G, all constriu-ted, arranged, and operating substantially as hercin set forth and forthe purpose specified.

. r l 1 W. W. BELIL.

Witnesses:

J. B. TURCHIN, F ANK H. BATTERSHALL. 

